A storage gateway for managing data includes a persistent storage and a processor. The persistent storage includes data category mappings and data category storage policies. The processor obtains a data storage request for data from a client; assigns the data to a first category specified by the data category mappings; stores the data in a first storage based on a storage policy specified by the data category storage policies; and, after storing the data in the first storage, migrates the data to a second storage in response to a change in the association between the data category mappings and the data category storage policies.